章 26: Chapter 26
Before you read this chapter, I just want to make one thing clear: THE ENDGAME PAIRINGS ARE HINATA X SASUKE (SasuHina) AND SAKURA X GAARA (GaaSaku)
Any pairings that differ from those are inevitably going to be short term so please no flaming!
It's my intention for this story to be as realistic as possible and in real life, people don't automatically end up with the one they're meant to be with. Sometimes, you have to go through a few things and/or significant others before you meet ~THE ONE~
ANYWAY:
Thank you for reading!
-Sakura's POV-
Once we were back at the agency, the boys wordlessly went to their dorm and Hinata went into the bathroom to shower first. I took the opportunity to check the message on my phone that'd come in while we were in the SUV.
As expected, it was another threatening message from Garrett, making my teeth grit angrily, "I'm not apologizing for shit. Tell your little boyfriend he'd better sleep with one eye open."
A deep sigh left my lips as I forced myself to calm down. Responding would just encourage him, so I opted to leave him on read.
What I couldn't wrap my head around was why my mother hadn't tried to contact me yet even though I already reached out. It only made me more anxious about the whole situation. Was the blowback from her finding out about Garrett's harassment worse than I thought it'd be?
Another message came in just as I was about to set the phone down and I groaned, assuming it was the annoying young man sending an additional text because I hadn't replied quickly enough. My eyes widened when Gaara's name crossed the screen instead.
"Can we talk? Sasuke just left."
My fingers ran over my hair, down my ponytail, as I checked my reflection in the mirror. I'd yet to take off my makeup or untie my hair, so I still looked photoshoot ready in that sense, but I was in casual clothing so it looked kind of weird. If I ended up crying, my face was going to be a hot mess, but we likely wouldn't get another chance to speak alone for a while so I had to suck it up and face the consequences of my actions.
The door to the boys' dorm was unlocked and I made an effort to keep my face calm as I padded barefoot down the hall and into Gaara's room, sitting beside him on the edge of his bed. He also hadn't washed his face yet. Neither of us said anything for a long time, so I glanced around his room.
This was my first time being here. I've been in their dorm before, but never their bedrooms. Black, tan, and white checkered sheets were on the bed and his desk's space was being utilized to the max. There was a laptop, a sound system, and multiple notebooks sitting on it, pencils and pens laying about as well.
Other than that, his room was bare. No personal items sat on the nightstands or shelves and he didn't have a single photo or piece of art hanging on the walls. A pout tugged at my lips. I was sort of hoping to get a deeper glimpse into his personality, but his room was just as guarded as his face.
The fact shouldn't surprise me because he's a very private person. All personal information I've ever learned about him hasn't come from him directly. I suppose I didn't really deserve to wish he'd open up more because the only reason he knew about my stressful family life was because Hinata pretty much forced me to let him and Sasuke in.
My skin prickled as I felt his gaze on me and I wondered how long he'd been studying me before I noticed. A tug pulled at my chest and I couldn't hold back the cringe it caused on my face. He was obviously still hurt by my harsh words last night and I couldn't blame him.
"Have you heard anything from your mom yet?" His soft voice broke through my regretful thoughts, but only made me feel that much more guilty. The endearing tone he usually took with me wasn't there anymore. Instead, it sounded like he was reading a test question out loud or something.
Tears immediately began to rise in my eyes and I looked up and blinked quickly to try and keep them from falling, "No."
The room went quiet again. A moment later, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt him hesitantly reach over and pull my hand from my lap so he could intertwine our fingers. My eyes shot over to him, wide.
"I won't apologize for what I did, but I am sorry that you were put in this situation to begin with."
He was staring down at our hands and not meeting my eye, so I followed his lead and looked down, giving him a small squeeze after a moment, "I-I…I am so sorry for what I said and how I acted. You didn't deserve that."
My voice wavered throughout my apology and I turned my head away from him slightly so I could reach up with my free hand and wipe at the few tears that'd managed to slip past my composure, hoping he couldn't tell. He still did, of course, and squeezed my hand back before pulling it slightly so I'd turn to face him.
Teal eyes locked onto mine and I couldn't look away as he searched my face with an unreadable expression. It might've been thirty seconds or it may have been five entire minutes, but tears steadily rose up further to eventually slip down my cheeks and then Gaara was gently wiping them away with a bit of blush dusting his cheeks, "I forgive you, so please stop crying."
Naturally, his words only made me cry harder and he looked surprised and unsure what to do when I brought my free hand up to cover my eyes.
"Are you okay? I didn't mean to make it worse."
A small laugh passed my lips and I dipped my head a bit, "I-I'm alright, just a big baby. I don't want you to see my makeup all messed up."
After a moment, he disappeared and quickly returned to place a makeup wipe in my palm. I looked down at it between my fingers before dropping my hand and bringing it up to gently rub against one eye as I looked at him with the other, face red.
He was doing the same with his own, expression similar to mine but without all the tears, "You're still pretty."
My mouth clamped shut and a massive wave of bashfulness came over me. I'm sure it was easy to read on my face because he let out a small embarrassed laugh, making me join him.
"You, too, Gaara."
We both soon had clean faces and had officially made up from our fight, but I didn't quite feel like leaving yet so I hesitantly offered him a compliment, "I was so surprised earlier. You looked so cool, like you've been doing this for years."
The blush on his face refused to falter, as did mine, and he fumbled with the used makeup wipe in his hands, "So did you."
I nudged him lightly in the side, "Stop trying to out-flatter me. I'll win."
He made some kind of quiet amused sound in his chest, but didn't say anything so I turned my gaze back down to the ground and tilted my head as I stared at my toes, "That type of style really suits you, you know. You should roll your sleeves up like that more often. I bet your fangirls will go crazy."
The bed moved beside me and I looked over to see he'd let himself fall onto his back with his hands covering his red face. A giggle passed my lips and I teased him, "Aw, little Gaara's still so shy!"
He let his hands drop to his side so I could see his attempt at giving me a dirty look, which failed miserably. I let myself fall to the bed and turned onto my side to face him. He mirrored the action so he wouldn't have to turn his neck to look me in the eye.
"Thank you…for forgiving me," I averted my gaze down to the portion of bed in between us, "I was so scared you wouldn't want to be friends anymore."
He made another soft sound that made me look back up to meet his gaze to see him offer a small smile, "I know you were just upset and didn't mean it." My teeth grit as I began blinking tears back once more and I had to settle for nodding lest I begin crying again.
~TIME SKIP~
-Hinata's POV-
Almost two entire months passed, full to the brim with interviews, photoshoots, and performances. Once our album was finally finished, it was released to the public and immediately topped the Billboard Top 100 in worldwide sales. The morning after its release, it felt like everyone suddenly knew who we were. It was impossible to go out in public without either a decent disguise or bodyguards.
A lot of Prestige's issues resolved themselves, as well. Suigetsu's court date came and passed, ending with him having to serve up to five years in jail for breaking and entering and assault.
Karin even showed up in court to testify against him, proving that she had truly meant it when she said she intended to change her horrible ways. In fact, her clothing line dropped and became very popular, making her name more widely known. She used her fame to promote our group on her social media accounts.
Sakura's issue also fixed itself, at least for the moment. While her mother and her fiance managed to work things out and stay together, Garrett apparently refused to acknowledge his wrongdoings and was sent back to the states to spend time with his mother's family and reflect on his actions.
Finally, Naruto formally apologized to both Sakura and me. The three of us agreed to simply remain friends and not to let emotions complicate things again in the future. Sasuke and Gaara thought we were idiots for accepting his apology, but ultimately swore not to start anything should their paths cross with the blonde's.
Only a few things were left that still needed confrontation.
For me personally, it was my relationship with the rest of my family. My father hadn't reached out even once after that fateful day in the hospital and even went as far as publicly speaking about his disappointment in me when asked by the press.
The least he could do was not comment on the subject, but biting his tongue wasn't Hiashi Hyuuga's style. If he doesn't like something, he'll let you know.
At least Hanabi was saying she was happy for me on the rare occasion she was caught by a reporter while out and about. My little sister hadn't reached out either, though, so a large part of me thinks she only says positive things like that so she'll look good to the public eye.
While I want to remedy the situation between us, I wasn't about to take the first step. Both of them were wrong to treat me the way they had and I'm no longer giving out free chances. If either of them want to talk to me, they have my phone number. Until that time comes, if it ever does, nothing's likely to change.
Tenten was also still heartbroken because when I had successfully facilitated a meeting between her and Neji, he hadn't changed his mind about giving a second date a try. He did agree to try being friends, though, so the popstar remained hopeful that he may come to see her in a romantic light again.
I asked her why she was trying so hard for him and she confessed with a surprising blush on her face that she didn't know either. In her own words, something was pulling her toward him that she didn't understand, but also didn't intend to fight.
No matter how badly I wanted to tell my cousin about her strong feelings for him, I knew it'd be wrong and chose to keep my nose out of their business. If and when either of them need my support, I'll be there to offer it wholeheartedly, but it wasn't my place to meddle.
Ino and Kankuro broke up barely two weeks after our debut, but Temari told Gaara, who told us, that the two of them still acted like they were together and would go on dates and hang out all the time.
The four of us in Prestige were brought closer and closer each day as we worked with our tight schedules and demanding performances. Almost every bit of awkwardness had melted between us all. In its place was a comfortable understanding and respect for one another.
I couldn't be happier, honestly. At last, I'd obtained real, true friendship. It was normal for any one of us to text, call, or simply barge in on another at any time of day or night. Even I stopped getting so flustered when one of the boys got closer than usual.
The growth in all of our relationships showed in both the sound of our singing and how cohesive our dancing looked. We were happy and that reflected in our work.
On a completely different note, Tenten gave Sasori, Konan's drummer, Sakura's number and he actually asked her out. My roommate actually accepted, surprising us all, and the two have gone on a couple dates already, in secret of course. As awful as it sounds, our fans would be devastated to find out she's unavailable, especially her fanboys.
I've met the quiet man once or twice and he seemed quite neutral about her, but I couldn't jump to conclusions because I don't know him that well. It may be that he's shy and withdrawn and actually adores her and it's just not easy to read it on his face. Either way, Sakura seemed smitten with him. She even told me she intends to kiss him next time they're together since it'll be their third date.
Sasuke also got out there, but in a completely different way. The Uchiha began having flings with a new idol or model every week or so, proving my hypothesis that he was going to approach women in a similar way as his older brother. The man never actually came out and said he was dating any of them, but would mess around them for a bit before moving on to the next one.
Sakura and I even had to resort to putting a bluetooth speaker in the bathroom because the Uchiha's bedroom shares a wall with it and we needed a way to mask the endless slew of female moans that came from that direction.
Then there was Gaara, who either wasn't seeing anyone at all or was an expert at hiding it. Sasuke teased him a lot because of it, but it was obviously his choice not to get involved with anyone. He's an incredibly attractive and sweet guy with millions of fans. All he'd have to do was introduce himself and any girl would likely say yes to a date. The redhead opted to focus on his work, though, and rarely commented on the topic.
That brings us to me.
To my utter shock, Kiba texted me a couple days after our debut and we've spent the past eight weeks casually catching up, rekindling our old friendship. It was nice, not having to pretend to be more confident or put together than I actually am because he's well aware of the problems I've struggled with growing up.
My father sent me to his family's hospital dozens of times throughout the years, demanding they find out what was wrong with me because social disorders aren't real in his eyes. Kiba was often there for me in the form of a friend who I could be honest with and didn't have to be professional around. There's little I could ever do to pay him back for that support.
That being said, our conversations have started to become a bit more flirty than I expected they ever would. After everything with Naruto turned out so badly, I wasn't sure how long it'd take for me to become interested in the idea of dating, but it was just coming naturally.
It's not like I was considering marrying Kiba or anything, but what could it hurt to flirt a bit and maybe go on some dates in the future? I'm already years behind in experience compared to other women my age so I'm eager to test the limits of my newfound freedom and confidence. All that was left was for either the Inuzuka man or me to take the leap and ask one another out.
Just like how Sakura and Tenten had told me about, almost immediately after our first album was released, we were instructed to start working on song ideas for our second album. It was to be written completely by the four members of Prestige.
Since it was now fall, being late September, Kakashi set our deadline to begin recording for the first of December. He wants it to be released on Christmas day and then we'll go on our first tour fall of next year.
Speaking of our first ever tour, another group was set to debut within Evolution Entertainment any day now and they're supposed to join us when the time comes. They're going to be called "Akatsuki" and are composed of four men, all of which were twenty-one years old or older. That's a bit older than when people normally debut, but their concept's supposed to be much more mature and sexy than the average group so Kakashi hopes it'll work in their favor.
At least two of the members went to highschool with Konan and Sasori, so the rockstars were acting as their mentors in the same way that Tenten has for us. Sakura asked him about the members and he described each of them.
There was a sort of androgynous blonde guy with long hair and blue eyes who could apparently be considered a male version of Ino Yamanaka. His name was Deidara. Then there was a tan guy with silvery-blonde hair and purple eyes named Hidan. There was then a very tall man with dark blue hair and eyes named Kisame.
Finally, the group's leader was named Yahiko, but also goes by the stagename "Pein". He's said to have brown eyes and orange hair. Yahiko and Kisame are the two that'd gone to school with their mentors, while the other two were scouted.
It was the middle of the week and for the first time since our debut, we somehow managed to have the rest of it almost completely free of interviews and other obligations so we were taking the rare chance to relax. The only thing on any of our schedules for the next four days was on Saturday evening and it wasn't even mandatory for us to attend. We all were, anyway, because Ino and Tenten are supposed to host the event and we wanted to offer our support.
Masquerade, the club we'd all gone to before, will be having its annual Masquerade ball, a red carpet event that's invitations are incredibly sought after. It didn't feel like much of a chore to be going because we aren't going to be performing. It'll just be a nice chance to dress up and have a good time with one another after working hard for two months straight.
Sakura's laughter carried softly over from her room as she undoubtedly talked with her boyfriend on the phone.
I tapped away at the keys of my keyboard, the melody random as I tried to brainstorm ideas for the album. Songwriting was proving to be quite a difficult task for me. I hadn't expected it to be easy, per say, but I hadn't expected it to give me quite this much trouble. My notebook was full of little snippets of lyrics, but not one of them seemed to come from the same song so I'd switched my tactic to coming up with a tune first and then working on lyrics that fit it instead of the other way around. It wasn't proving any easier, to my dismay.
My phone vibrated on my desk nearby and I reached over to click it on. A message from Kiba crossed my screen and a smile tugged at my lips as I read it.
"Movies tonight?"
Even if we haven't gone a day without at least texting once, the two of us haven't met in person since the day of Prestige's debut. I was excited to see him again.
"I'm free!"
The way he worded the invitation didn't make it clear if this was meant to be a date or not, which made me a bit nervous, but I had an inkling that it was. His response came quickly, "Be there in an hour!"
The blood left my face. …Only an hour?!
I rushed out of my bedroom and over to Sakura's, stubbing my toe on her door frame. Hissing in pain, I hopped on one foot, and held my throbbing foot in my hands. The girl gave me a confused look and I whispered out, "I have a date in one hour! Please help me!"
A high-pitched squeal filled the air and then she was speaking quickly into the phone, "I gotta go, babe! See you later!"
She didn't even wait for his response before hanging up and shooting off her bed to coral me toward the bathroom, "With Kiba? Did he finally make a move?" I nodded, face warm.
The pink-haired girl squealed again, glaring at the wall when Sasuke knocked on the other side of it a couple times and we heard him yell at us to shut up, "Eat a dick, Uchiha!"
As though she hadn't just spouted off something vulgar, her bright smile returned, "It's about time! Now stay still. I'll make sure you look perfect!"
Over the next hour, she put soft and romantic curls into my hair and did some simple makeup on my face. She stood in the doorway of my bedroom, tapping away on her phone as I pulled on some black tights to go under the pastel blue button-up dress I was wearing, "Is it alright if I have Sasori over while you're gone?"
I nodded with a blush as I pulled on some white flats, "Of course! Just let me know if it ends up not being safe to come back for a while."
Sakura's face reddened to match mine and she smirked at me while shaking her head, "I don't know if I like this new, perverted, Hinata."
A knock came at the door before I could respond and I glanced at my phone's screen to see that exactly an hour had passed since Kiba's last text. He was right on time.
週次パワーステータス
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